Graduate thesis in field of forestry: A forest economics focused content analysis

Graduate studies are an important genre of scientific research. Countries encourage postgraduate studies in selected fields in line with priorities of research policies. This study conducted the content analysis of the in the field of forestry and forest engineering in Turkey and abstracts of the master's and doctoral dissertations. The thesis summaries in YÖK thesis database were formed the material of the research. A content analysis software was used for the content analysis of the thesis abstracts. Besides the structural content analysis of the theses, the subject-based content of the thesis abstracts for the department of forest economics has been analyzed comparatively for different periods. The study also dealt with the rhetorical move analysis of thesis abstracts in field of forest economics. Thesis provided results that will help setting research policies in forestry.